Carmen Sandiego is going to Silent Hill
by redhatladyfan
Summary: Carmen receives a mysterious letter in the mail that will not let her ignore it. What is in store for her once she crosses the Silent Hill town limits? Will she ever find the "person" who wrote it?
1. Chapter 1  Welcome to Silent Hill

That's right; Carmen Sandiego is going to Silent Hill!

If you have ever played the game you know how it works, but if you have not I will tell you. Everyone that comes to Silent Hill is drawn to this place for some reason. The character has to go through various out of the way places, as many convenient accesses are locked, while encountering strange creatures/people. The character must solve puzzles to be awarded clues/items on how to get to the next stage. In the final stage the character is presented with the reason why they have come, and sometimes it is not what you would expect.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Carmen Sandiego, Zach, Ivy or the Chief. (Wish I did) They are owned by whoever owns Cookie Jar (WOEICS) and the Learning Company (Carmen Sandiego franchise). I do not own Silent Hill or any of its characters portrayed in this fanfic. They are owned by the Silent Hill Team? It is hard to tell, as so many developers have worked on different SH games. I do own the concept that this reading will present and the mild characters.

Rated M for descriptions of violence, gore and the usage of foul language. If you cannot handle these things, PLEASE DO NOT READ as the story progresses things will get crazy!

Please review.

Enjoy!

Thick fog blanketed the entire town leaving visibility an almost impossibility. A red car came down the street and pulled into a gas station parking lot. A woman stepped out. She was dressed in all red from her hat to her high heels. The only variation of bold color was her black gloves and thick hair that hung down her back.

"Great, I'm lost. If only this fog wasn't so thick", she said walking towards the gas station convenience store. Normally, she would not be the type who would ask for directions, but for some odd reason all of her specialized equipment stopped working, as soon as she entered the town limits. She approached the store but it was locked. Looking through the window there was no sign of anyone, in fact there was no sign of anyone else around. The entire block was dead silent, like a ghost town.

She reached into her inner coat pocket to read the letter she received through the mail. At first she thought it was a prank being pulled by Moe Sketter and Lars Vegas, sometimes those two have too much time on their hands; but they were serving time for trying to steal the Hope Diamond on their own. After initially reading the letter she laughed at the idea and tossed it into the trash and thought nothing about it; until she found it, again, in her coat pocket. This time she threw it in the fireplace and watched it burn. A few days later it appeared on her bedside night stand. This time she could not get it out of her head and had a strong, almost magnetic, feeling that she must return to Silent Hill.

She read it out loud in hopes that it would help her think. "Meet me in Silent Hill, in the place where you stole the old parchments. I want you to know the truth." The words were written in some type of red ink that was stained onto the off-white wrinkled paper, like had been written many years ago.

"Ok, I am here, now what do I do? I can barely see 10 feet in front of me." She said getting back into her car. She pushed the start button, but nothing happened, the car was dead.

"Oh Shit!" she yelled, slamming her fists against the steering wheel. "This thing just had a complete overhaul and passed every inspection. How the HELL can it be dead?"

She got out, sighed loudly, slammed the door shut, put her hands on her hips and looked around for any type of hope. There seemed to be a bit of gleaming light coming from an old car windshield. As she got closer the light was coming from a torn piece of paper stuck underneath a windshield wiper. She lifted the wiper, took the piece of paper and found that it was half of a map of Silent Hill.

"What luck, but it doesn't have the area that I need", she said with a fading smile. After a few seconds of silence she could hear shuffling footsteps behind her. She turned around to find two shadows, of what it looked like two people, headed her way. One was taller than the other. "Could it be?" she thought. "No, THEY wouldn't be here."

"Hello, I seem to be lost and I am hoping that you will be able to assist me?" She yelled with hope in her voice.

There was no answer and the shadows were quickly coming closer. She was a little taken back from the lack of response and their quickening pace. "Why don't they answer me?" she thought. She began to walk towards them when suddenly the shorter one lunged for her wrapping its arms around her chest. She screamed, but it sounded more like a huge sigh, as her breathe was being squeezed out of her. They both fell hard onto the ground.


	2. Chapter 2 Creature Feature

Her head smacked the pavement rendering her unconscious for a second. She came to listening to the sound of herself wheezing and gasping for air. Spots were appearing in front of her, and she knew she only had a few seconds before she would be squeezed to death. Her only hope was to beat it off her. She put her left hand on its plastic covered head and gave it a good punch in the face causing it to release some of its grip. With every punch fresh blood would appear and smear inside the plastic covering. She then lifted it from her chest just enough to throw it off of her with her feet.

It landed against the other creature causing them both to fall backwards, but they did not make a sound. She quickly got to her feet, trying to catch her breath in big gulps. Her hat had fallen off and the map fell out of her hands when she got tackled. She looked around and found them both behind her. She caught a glimpse of the two creatures.

One was badly burnt with parts of its skin pulled off, for around the missing areas the skin was torn and hung off its body. Its facial features were unrecognizable. The attacker had rotting prune-like flesh, like it had been left in a wet place for a long time. Its head was wrapped in a, now, bloody plastic bag with duct tape wrapped around its neck and wound around its chest. Both were naked but neither was anatomically correct.

She saw the old car and knew her car was in the opposite direction of the windshield. Operating on pure adrenaline she ran to her car, using the car key remote to pop open the truck.

"Fuck!" she shouted, remembering the car was dead.

She ran to the driver's side, forcibly opening the door and pulled the trunk release lever. It popped open. Inside it was filled with, now, useless gadgets, except for a few items. There was a car jack, crowbar, tire iron, a world band radio that was specially rigged for scrambling, listening and sending messages and a flashlight. Both ran on everlasting batteries.

Breathing heavily, she turned on the radio hoping to find a signal. No such luck, and on top of that she was beginning to get light headed from lack of oxygen. Putting the radio down, she steadied herself by resting her hands on the trunk. When she got back to semi-normal breathing she picked up the flashlight, placing it in her outer pocket. She then decided on taking the crowbar, as it was better used as a melee weapon. All of a sudden the radio started to make static noises. She put on her hat and folded up the map and stuck that in her inner pocket.

Grabbing the radio she turned the dial to find a strong signal. The static noise got louder, giving her hope. She began to enter a distress call in Morse code, but it didn't go through.

"What? That's impossible." She said, shaking the radio out of frustration.

She could see two shadows quickly headed her way out of her peripheral vision.

"Give me a break!" she shouted, grabbed the crowbar and ran down the road she came. She was running so fast, still in shock from the scuffle, she almost did not see the end of the road until the last minute when she tripped and fell on her knees preventing herself from falling into the ravine. The road had appeared to have recently broken off. Peering over the edge there was no sign on how far down it went. She noticed that the static on the radio had stopped. She wanted to throw the thing into the ravine, but something told her to hold on to it and to keep it on.

Suddenly, the shock and adrenaline wore off and she felt a throbbing pain in the back of her head, had a massive headache and it hurt like hell to breath. She slowly got to her feet using the crowbar as a crutch and put the radio in her other outer pocket. She could make out a bus bench to her left, slowly and carefully making her way to it. She moaned and winced in pain, as she sat down. She closed her eyes taking slow shallow breaths to not aggregative her wounds.

"What were those things? They were hideous looking. I am too hurt to freak out right now, but if I see them again, which I hope not, I will try to avoid them at all costs." She thought.

When she opened her eyes she saw a bottle sitting next to her. It had a Red Cross symbol on it.

"Was this here when I sat down?" she asked, but hoped nothing would answer her.

Slowly taking the bottle she opened it up to smell the contents. It stunk like some type of strong medicine. The thought of drinking it entered her mind, but she didn't know where it came from and what type of medicine it was. Taking off one glove she dipped her finger into the bottle and then put it into her mouth. It certainly tasted like medicine and the way she felt made the idea of taking it a huge possibility.

"Well, here goes nothing." She said, and drank the entire bottle.

Once all of it hit her stomach she felt incredibly sick, like she was going to puke and her entire body burned. She screamed in pain, but then realized she wasn't in pain anymore.

"What the hell kind of medicine is this?" she said in astonishment putting the empty bottle down.

She got up and headed back towards her car. There was no sign of the two creatures anywhere. She took out the torn map.

"Well, it looks I am near the intersection of Nathan Ave and Lindsey Street" she said, marking the location on the map. She noticed a key symbol on the map that was drawn over Café Mist, which was on Katz Street a couple of blocks from her location.

"I don't remember putting that there. Is someone trying to help me out, or is this some type of setup?" she pondered. "Well, all I know is that I need to get to the other side of town but I cannot remember where on earth it is." After she said this she laughed. She walked down Lindsey Street and didn't see anything unusual, just empty houses that gave her a weird feeling like they were watching her.

"Where are all the people? The entire town must be deserted. Why? I wonder what happened." She said, rounding the corner onto Katz Street. She tried to recall anything she knew about Silent Hill, but her mind would always go blank, like something didn't want her to know.

She saw the sign for Café Mist and became relieved at her mini-success, but that was short lived when radio static broke the silence. The two creatures came out of a side street. She ran towards Café Mists' front doors.

"Please be open" she begged, and pulled on the door handles.

One door opened and she ran in. She looked out the dusty window but saw no sign that they were following her. She turned around to find it empty. No tables, chairs, counters or appliances. She took out her flashlight and looked around. She finally found a cash register stuck inside a hole in the wall. It was covered in dust, but one button was not, like it had been recently touched. She pushed the cash button and the cash drawer slide open. Inside was a key that read Blue Creek Apartments, Room 303. Underneath the key was a note that read "YOU have come this far to know the truth. Why DON'T you come home?"

"What? Home? I don't live here." She said, taking the note and putting it in her inner pocket. She took out the map and marked Blue Creek Apartment as her next destination.


	3. Chapter 3 Blue Creek Apartments

If you've played these games you know who they are. If not, here are quick descriptions.

SH 4 character

Name: Richard Braintree

Role: Likes to skin people alive

SH Homecoming character (Homecoming had the PH I wanted)

Name: Pyramid Head

Role: Executioner

She walked towards the café door and took one more look outside before heading out. Only fog lingered and her radio was dead silent. Making her way down Katz Street she spotted two Red Cross bottles sitting on the sidewalk, as if someone wanted her to find them. Knowing of their importance she opened up her coat and placed them in two pocket slots. She was glad to have found them, but dreaded having to use them.

She was almost near her destination when a high volume radio static broke the eerie silence and the fog thickened. It was so thick she would feel it in her lungs after every breath. She turned in a circle looking for those two creatures, but the fog was so thick that she couldn't even see her black glove in front of her face. She reached into her pocked to turn the volume down to zero, to not attract attention to her. And then heard the sound of something sharp and heavy being dragged along the around, as if every scratch sharpened the blade. It was near her.

"Where is it coming from? It sounds like it's all around me?" she thought, trying not to panic. The fear of seeing what was making the noise almost made her scream, but she knew that would not help. She stood still, waiting for it to pass. As quickly as the thick fog appeared, it disappeared and she was left with the familiar visibility. The only sound she could hear was her rapid heartbeat. Her right hand ached from having a death grip on the crowbar.

Walking forward a few paces she almost fell when she stepped into a groove. She looked down and saw a deep, long indentation in the pavement. She gasped at the sight. IT was so close to her. A knot formed in her stomach that made her feel ill when she saw it was in the same direction she was headed. She reached the gates of the Blue Creek Apartments. The gate looked rusted, but it wasn't locked. The gate moaned as she opened it, like didn't want to be disturbed.

Before she entered the front door, she made sure to the volume up on her radio. No static noise was heard, what a relief. It was extremely dark in the main hallway. Turning on her flashlight she could see the information desk and a stairway leading up. The place smelled rotten, but the smell wasn't so strong to make her sick. On the wall by the information desk was a map of the complex. She took it down and examined it to find a route to Room 303. She was about to head up the stairs when something twinkled from the light. She walked to it and saw it was a mailbox key that was in its keyhole. The name on the mailbox had the initials "C.S."

"What? This can't be me."

Opening the door there was a sealed red envelope inside. Resting the crowbar against the wall, she took out the envelope and opened it. The letter read

_Dear Carmen,_

_Red is my favorite color too._

_-Sincerely,_

_Richard Braintree_

"I don't know a Richard Braintree." She said, putting the letter back in the envelope and contemplating taking it, but left it in the mailbox as it made her feel uneasy.

Grabbing the crowbar she turned around and started to walk towards the stairs. She noticed a doorway with an Exit sign over it on the other side. It was locked. She took out her map and put and X on the corresponding picture to help her remember. Walking up the stairs she thought she could hear faint screaming, but she wasn't sure.

The 3rd Floor entrance was locked. She stuck her crowbar in between the door and the doorjamb hoping to pry it open, but no such luck.

"Well that figures" she said and examined the map. There appeared to be a back stairwell.

"Well the 1st floor back exit is locked, so I can't go through there. And this place is so big it would take me a while to walk around. Only other option is to try the 2nd floor." If this didn't work, she would have to think of something else."

The 2nd Floor entrance wasn't locked. When she opened the door, immediately radio static could be heard, but it wasn't as loud as before. A lone figure came down the hallway. It looked like two pairs of manikin legs, with one on top of the other both joined at the waist. It didn't seem to pay any attention to her. She quickly looked at her map and saw that the stairwell was on the other side of it.

Folding up the map and sticking it in her inner pocket, she gripped the crowbar with both hands making her way to the creature. It began swinging its upper legs when she got near trying to hit her. She hugged the wall and ducked as she walked past it. Once she was past it continued walking the other way. The stairwell was all the way down at the end of, what it appeared to be, a black hole hallway. As she walked passed each apartment door she noticed they were all closed. She was glad for this, for she did not want to see what was inside. Finally, she made it to the stairwell but there was a sign on the door.

"To open me, you must HAVE the key."

"Now I have to go and try every fucking door?" she whispered shining her flashlight down the black hallway.

She started with the door nearest her. To her relief it was locked. She did this zigzagging down the hallway and around the corner until she heard the static noise. There at the other end was the creature standing in front of the only door she hadn't tried. It just stood there. She approached it hoping it would come towards her so she could maneuver past it, but no such luck. She got closer, the creature did nothing. She was just put her hand on the doorknob when its leg smacked her on the side of her head.

"Ow..Shit!" she shouted, as she was knocked back into the wall. Putting her hand on her face she saw the creature coming towards her, but this time it was swinging its legs much faster. There was no way around it. It was in the middle of the hallway and its upper legs seemed to have doubled in length.

"You are going down you little fucker" she said, advancing on it. It swung at her, she ducked and jabbed it in it middle, with such force that it fell back onto the floor. She repeatedly dug the crowbar into is stomach making it scream with every jab. Blood splattered onto the walls, her coat and finally soaking the carpet.

"Oh this is horrible." She said, out of breath, starting to feel remorse. "But there was no way around it. It's MY survival not….ITs"

Now it was time to face whatever or whoever was behind the last door. She opened the door to prepare herself for something horrible, but found a half-lit empty room. The entire room appeared to be covered in red wall paper. The kitchen was illuminated with a red light bulb. The bedroom door was open. Inside there was nothing unusual, except that it was exceptionally neat. A note sat on a bed pillow.

"Richard, I put the stairwell key in the garbage in the bathroom. I left a note in the hallway to deter anyone who is curious."

In the bathroom there were garbage bags in the bathtub.

"This is an odd place for garbage bags" she thought, but everyone has their own habits.

She opened the garbage bag nearest to her. She was greeted by a severed skinned head, with a key stuck in its eye socket.

She shrieked and with a shaky hand took the key out. The end of it was covered in goop. She bit her lower lip preventing herself from screaming hysterically. She carefully, retied the bag and took off her gloves to wash the key off in the bathroom sink. Putting her gloves back on she froze when she thought she heard footsteps in the main room, but didn't hear any other noise.

This gave her some relief as she wouldn't want to run into the person who has that kind of "garbage" in their bathroom.


	4. Chapter 4 Room 303

Author Note: Hang in there. We are halfway through the story.

Walking into the main room she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Opening up the front door expecting to hear static, she was greeted with quiet and darkness. Two things she was beginning to enjoy. Heading down the hallway there laid the bloody body of her very 1st victim. Her mind began to torture her with images of what the garbage bags held. She shook her head hoping to wipe it away, like an Etch-a-Sketch picture. Hope, hope was something she thought was only used by those who have no control over their fate, but she realized it was all she had and that she may not have control over her own fate.

She remembered what Suhara told her when she is faced with difficult situations; the most important thing to remember is to not let them get the better of you, making you lose focus. Stand back and look at each one individually, dissecting it to find out the cause. Just then two and two came together. She was just in Richard Braintree's apartment. In the letter he said his favorite color was red, and the entire apartment was basically red.

"Holy Shit!" she whispered rubbing the bruised side of her face.

She arrived at the door and put the key into the keyhole, trying not to think about how she got it. The stairwell was cold and damp, but the 3rd floor light was on. Its presence felt like a light at the end of the tunnel. She walked up the stairs, her heels hitting each step sounding like a knock on a door, as if she was announcing her presence.

She stopped in front of the door and took out the map. Room 303 was directly in front of her.

"Finally, I get a break" she said smiling.

She inhaled and opened the door to prepare herself for anything behind door #3. Nothing, just silence and darkness. Exhaling heavily, she unlocked the door to room 303. Shining light across the room it stopped on a woman's tailoring dummy. She jumped for it looked like a person standing there. It was wearing her style coat and hat. She got closer and saw that it had a plastic bag on its head with duct tape wrapped tight against the neck. The bag reminded her of the first creature that attacked her.

The room was pitch black, so black that the light beam seemed unable to make its way to the wall. She noticed a bulge around the dummy's waist. She opened up the coat and found a gun, a case of bullets and a holster.

"How I despise guns." She said, but thought that it might come in handy given the situation. It had a full round in the barrel. She put on the holster and placed the gun in it. The bullet box went in her pocket. She walked towards the walls shining her light along them to see if she can find anything else. The bedroom door was ajar. Opening it she could smell a type of perfume. It smelled like an array of flowers. She made her way to the bed and found a picture frame on the bed stand. Picking it up, she gasped. It was of her, Zack and Ivy. They had their arms around each other's waist and were smiling. The frame said "My Children".

"What! I have never taken a picture with those two and I am certainly not their mother. What kind of sick game is this?" She examined the picture again then put it down.

She turned around to leave the room when her radio went off. She froze and tried to shine her light on anything, but it was too dark. She took small steps forwards and prepared herself for a fight. Something hit her on her back causing her to fall forward, knocking her flashlight out of her hands. She hurried to get up and grab it but something grabbed her legs and dragged her back. She tried to kick her perpetrator but she kept missing. Then she was knocked unconscious.

She woke up on the floor in a room that looked like a basement that was lit with red light. A man was hunched over a workbench. He was busy working in something. There were dried human skins on the walls and fresh ones hung over a drain so the blood can drip off. An old fashioned knife sharpener sat in the corner. She quietly got up, looking for a way out fighting the urge to run out screaming.

When the man heard noise behind him he stopped what he was doing and turned around, his hands were covered in blood. "Glad to see you are finally awake Carmen. Let me introduce myself, I am..." He said wiping his hands on an already blood marked towel.

"No need for an introduction, I already know who you are. I saw the garbage in your bathroom." She interrupted, trying to stay calm but had a lump of fear in her throat.

"Well, it was trash day and you know how it when you can't stand the sight of something. You just throw it away."

"What are you talking about? People aren't trash."

"You know exactly what I am talking about, just…think about it..and Yes, some people are" he said glaring at her.

"Are you implying I'm trash?" she said, trying to maintain her cool but was beginning to get a bit pissed off.

He walked over to a sheet and lifted it up. It was the tailoring dummy from room 303.

"You aren't trash. You're a masterpiece." He said, picking up a hatchet and walked towards her. She backed up and found herself against a wall.

"Where the fuck is my crowbar" she thought, looking on the floor but didn't see it. She touched her waist and felt the holster. Quickly opening her coat she took out the gun and pointed it at him.

"Don't come any closer" she shouted moving along the wall to put distance between them.

"Why not?" he said taking small steps. "You aren't going to shot me. You hate guns."He said smiling and then quickening his pace. This made her pull the trigger and a bullet whizzed past him.

"YOU STUPID BITCH" he yelled, suddenly the room expanded. All the walls looked like they were a half a football field away in all four directions.

He flickered as he came towards her with his hatchet in hand.

"Holy Fuck!" she shouted, shooting 3 at him. They all missed. She turned around and ran to by her sometime. She saw his hatchet fly past her head and get stuck in the floor. She turned around to see him still coming towards her with a new hatchet and still flickering. She shot 5 more at him. They all missed, going through empty space when he flickered.

"Fuck!" she cried out, looking around for something to help her. She could see a bright light on the other side of the room behind him. She ran as fast as she could when a hatchet hit her left arm. It stung like hell, worse than being cut from shaving. She cried out in pain, taking it out of her arm and throwing it on the floor. She was on too much adrenaline to care about the wound.

She finally made it and saw 8 shiny bullets lying on the floor. They appeared to be made out of solid silver. She loaded them into her gun. He was a few paces behind her when she turned around. She shot 1 bullet at him. It made contact, stunning him. She shot 4 more at him. Blood was coming out of his chest and arms. He raised his arm to throw his hatchet just as she shot 2 towards his head. They made contact as he stood there with two holes in his forehead looking right at her, and finally falling to his knees and on his face.

She shouted in triumph, but felt something pressing against her heart. It was the last hatchet. Blood gushed out around the steel, like water out of a faucet. Blood poured out of her mouth and ran down her neck. She fell backwards onto the hard floor. The last thing she heard was a siren, like an air raid siren.


	5. Chapter 5 Alchemilla Hospital

Author Note: In some SH games the siren represents the beginning or end of a boss fight. I chose to use the hospital name from SH Origins. Don't worry we haven't seen, excuse me read, the last of Pyramid Head. Remember Carmen hasn't seen him, which is why he isn't described to those who don't know who he is …yet.

SH Homecoming character

Name: Judge Holloway

Role: A twisted lady who murdered/sacrificed her daughter to please her god.

Review and Enjoy!

Carmen's eyes shot open and she jumped off the bed hitting her back against the wall. She frantically looked around with her mind racing to understand where she was and what had happened. She saw her hat and coat hanging on a coat rack in the corner of the room.

"What the hell just happened?" she said shaking.

After calming down she walked over to the mirror and took off her turtle neck. There were no signs of her hatchet wounds, as her fingers moved over those areas of her skin.

"Was that some type of dream?" she said with a crinkled brow, as she looked around for her weapons but didn't see them.

She examined her shirt and saw two slits where the hatches had torn through the material, but there were no blood stains. Surely there should have been plenty one from her arm and chest, but looking over her coat only revealed two slits. She stood there for a few minutes trying to comprehend the events. She had just finished putting on her turtle neck when the door opened.

"I am happy to see you are feeling better" the nurse said with a friendly smile.

"How did I get here?" Carmen asked with a puzzled look.

"You were found in the middle of the street unconscious."

"In the middle of the street? But I just killed someone out of self-defense. His name was Richard Braintree. He threw two hatchets at me. One hit me in the arm and the other was embedded in my chest."

The nurse just stared at her and finally said "You have been my only patient today, and besides you showed no signs of injury when you were brought here" she said flipping through the paperwork on her clipboard.

"But he …" Carmen going to tell the nurse what she saw in Blue Creek Apartments but decided that it might make her look even more insane.

"You made a nice recovery. You are free to go."

"What do I owe for the service?" Carmen said taking her coat off the rack to get out her wallet.

"Nothing, your bill has already been paid."

"Really by whom?"

"Umm…(flipping through papers) it doesn't say, but the most important thing is that you are alive and well" she said with a cheery smile, turned around and was just about to walk out of the room.

"Wait, do you know a place where I can find old parchments?"

"Of course, the Historical Society. It's just down the road past the bowling alley. Turn left and it is on the right hand side of Nathan Ave. Here (taking the last piece of paper out from her clipboard) take this map. It only shows this side of the town, but it does show your destination."

"Thank you."

"Oh, I put your…um… other personal belongings in the closet. I didn't want the others to see them. People could jump to the wrong conclusion about you and by the way nice hat" she said and walked out closing the door.

Carmen put on her coat and opened the closet. Inside were all her weapons and on the top shelf were her two health drinks, radio and a new type of flashlight. This one had a clip on the back so she could clip it to her coat.

"This is more convenient" she said taking it and putting it on.

She looked at the map to find her proximity. The Historical Society wasn't far from where she was; in fact it seemed that she, somehow, jumped to the other side of town. She put on her hat, examined herself in the mirror then opened the door. It was really quiet inside the hospital and very well lit. There was no sign of any activity or anybody.

"Where did the nurse go?" she wondered and walked down the hallway to find a way out. She noticed that all the rooms were empty. She found a map on the wall and saw that she was on the third floor. The hospital was in the shape of a U and she was on the north side near a stairwell.

"Great, I hope this isn't going to be like the apartments."

She found the stairwell, held her breath, closed her eyes and grasped the door handle and pushed. It opened.

"Oh thank god" she said and exhaled.

Walking down the stairs everything seemed normal, until she got near to the first floor. There was a chain link fence door that was being held closed by a chain padlock and it was blocking her way.

"What the fuck? What is this doing here?" she said and put her crowbar in-between the lock and chain, put both hands on each end and pulled with all her might. Nothing happened. She took out her gun and stood on the stairs that came down to avoid a possible bullet ricochet and fired. Nothing happened. She went down to examine the lock.

"What the hell is this thing made out of…Kevlar Steel?"

She sighed heavily and walked backup to the second floor door. Thankfully it was open. She was surprised no one came to see what happened after she fired the gun, but much like the third floor there was no one around.

"Why did the nurse say if people saw my "other personal belongings" that they would get the wrong idea about me? There is no one else here" she said not caring that she was talking to herself, besides it helps her think.

Finding the map on the wall she saw that the other stairwell was on the south side.

"That figures" she said rolling her eyes.

The sound of her high heels echoed throughout the hallway, but hearing another sound made her stop. It was the faint sound that sounded like someone begging for their life. Carmen stood in the hallway waiting to hear anything else, but heard nothing and continued to walk. As she was nearing the stairwell a glint caught her eye as she passed a room. She stopped and walked in.

The room looked like it was recently inhabited. There was a plate of food on the night stand and she could smell a hint of perfume. The sight of the food made her feel sick, for she had no appetite due to her experiences. There were papers strewn all over the floor and bed. She looked through some that were on the bed, but none were legible. She saw one face up on the floor but could only make out a couple of sentences.

_My theory is that she was insane before she committed the acts. The double life she led became too much for her and took a toll on her psyche._

She let the letter drop from her hands and saw a woman's beige coat that hung on the coat rack in the corner. Something told her to go through its pockets. She looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone was coming, just in case the nurse would happen to walk by. She saw no one.

After examining the coat she found a key chain with five keys on it.

"I hope one of these opens any other locked doors" and put them in her pocket.

The stairwell door stuck when she first tried to push it open. She threw her body against it to give it a little encouragement, but this time it made a squealing sound, like it was being tortured.

"Shit, I hope that isn't some kind of premonition of what is to come" she said walking down to the first floor door.


	6. Chapter 6 Here comes the Judge

The stairwell light began to flicker as she approached the first floor door. She looked at it and saw a florescent bulb that looked like it had been hanging there for ages. It had turned yellow and had a few bugs pasted on it. She was just about to put her hand on the handle when she heard a bell ring. It sounded like an elevator car announcing its presence on. The door was locked. Rolling her eyes she took out the key chain.

"Hmm. ..I didn't notice this before." There were four colored keys and one regular key. She tried the regular key, it worked. The first floor was pitch black, the only light she saw was the elevator call button. Turning on her flashlight and radio, she could feel a breeze. No sound was heard from the radio.

"But it was so bright upstairs" she said looking up at the ceiling.

Turning to the left to walk down the hallway she was stopped when she blocked by thick black plastic in front of her. She knelt down to see if it could be lifted up, but it was attached to something hard and solid, like a wall on the other side.

"This is an odd way to renovate" she said getting up. She turned around to try behind her, but found nothing but a regular wall. She tried the stairwell door. It was locked, and the key didn't work.

"Looks like someone wants me to use the elevator" she said and pushed the call button. She waited and waited. "Damn (pushing the call button multiple times in a row) where is it coming from Hell?" Right on cue the elevator bell went off and the doors opened.

She got in and noticed that it didn't go to the top floors. "That's why I don't remember seeing it. What kind of hospital is this?" she said and pushed the button for basement. She could feel the pressure change as the elevator car descended.

The elevator slowed and came to a stop. The doors opened and immediately her radio went off. It was the two creatures from her first encounter.

"I'm trapped" she said backing into to the wall preparing herself for a fight. The smaller one went for her legs and the bigger one went for her arms. Carmen swung her crowbar and kicked her legs. The crowbar made contact with the bigger one's head. It made an, almost, human scream. She then kicked the smaller on in the head with her high heel toe. It, too, made an almost human scream. She jumped over both bodies, her radio went silent. The basement was cold and dark. She looked back and could see both creatures lying on the elevator floor.

"Where am I..in the morgue?" she said but then found a sign that read "Caution mental patient's doors are unlocked during the day"

"What? The psychiatric floor? But why would it be in the basement? That's really inhumane."

Suddenly all of the doors swung open and banged against the walls. A blast of ice cold air rushed through the hallway. The floor began to shake and her radio static went extremely loud. She heard the sharp dragging noise. Her heart felt like it would pound out of her chest. It was coming closer and was in front of her.

She ran into a room, turned the radio and flashlight off. She could hear its heavy breathing that sounded like its head restricted in something. She pushed her back into the padded wall. There was a loud banging sound, like metal against metal. Then it stopped outside her door, breathing heavily. She heard two sets of footsteps running down the hallway. She put her glove in her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. It finally walked back down the hallway.

Carmen waited until she could no longer hear the breathing or scratching. The only sound she could hear was her heartbeat, with shaky hands she clicked on the flashlight and radio. It made no sound. Her flashlight caught something white lying on the floor. She bent down and picked it up. It was a folder; a piece of paper was in there, she managed to make out a couple of sentences.

_We had to keep her heavily sedated as she kept shouting "A sacrifice is only a small price to pay for eternal happiness." Somehow she was able to resist the drugs and finally committed suicide by hanging herself with her bed sheets._

"How horrible. There is something wrong with this town" she said swallowing hard and walking towards the doorway.

She walked back to the elevator and noticed that the doors were twisted together making entry impossible. She stood there for a few minutes, in the darkness, hanging her head. The only way out was back the other way, where that thing went.

She turned around, focusing her attention on the alternative. Swallowing hard she began to walk. As she neared the end, she could make out a thin light rectangle, as she got closer she realized it was a door.

"What is this?" Her flashlight revealed that it had four locks with a gold note etched in the door.

"Each lock represents people that you know, including yourself and each key represents those people. The goal is to pick the right combination for those YOU are fond of. If you pick the right combo you won't have to do the time."

She shone her flashlight on each lock. There was Red, Blue, Green and Yellow then she looked at her keys. They, too, were the same color.

"Hmmm, well Red has to be me. And..Green could be Ivy's eyes and… Blue is Zack's eyes and Yellow is the chief. (re-reading) The goal is to pick the right combination for those you are fond of. What? I have four keys, there are four slots. Oh, I get it. I am the Red keyhole so I am going to put in the Yellow, Green and Blue key" She put in each individual key, and turned each a quarter turn, the door opened.

She immediately heard a familiar voice "Oh so sorry Carmen. You didn't enter in the right combination. The correct answer was Red Key into Red lock…only" said the nurse.

"What? I care about Ivy, Zack and the Chief."

"I don't think so. From what I've been told you didn't really care at all" after the nurse said this Carmen was hit in the head rendering her unconscious.

"Caaarmen..Caaarmen"

Carmen was slowly becoming aware and thought she could hear the Chief's voice.

"Caaarmen…Caaarmen"

"Chief is that you?" she said opening her eyes, trying to focus on the blurry image in front of her.

Her eyes cleared and she shrieked at what she saw. The Chief had fire in his eyes and hair. His face was sunken in and gray. His mouth was similar to a nozzle with fire in it.

"You wish BITCH" he said and stuck out a tongue made out of fire and went to lick her cheek. Carmen turned her head and tried to move out of the way, but she was restrained from head to feet. The sleeves from her shirt were ripped off, revealing her bare arms. Her gloves were gone too.

There were five very large looking fishing hooks that were attached to long levers that went down both arms. The hooks had cables that went to the ceiling.

"Nice to see you are awake. Doing this wouldn't be half as fun if you weren't" said the nurse nearing the table.

"Where am I? Nurse, why are you doing this to me?" asked Carmen struggling to get free.

"A sacrifice is only a small price to pay for eternal happiness isn't it Carmen?" the nurse said, pushing a button on the side of the table, which made the fish hooks over her right arm slam into her skin. Carmen screamed and tried to kick from the pain. The blood from the penetration of the hooks ran down her arms and onto the floor. Her forehead was soaked from sweat. Her eyes rolled around in her head.

The two creatures came in and stood at the end of the table watching her. The Chief was laughing and spiting fire every time his mouth opened.

"I am shocked that you don't remember who I am" the nurse said, making her way to the other side of the table. "I am Judge Holloway. You and I became quite close."

"Close, but I only visited one time. Are you the one who sent me the letter?" Carmen asked swallowing hard and catching her breath.

Judge Holloway laughed "Of course not" and pushed the button on the other side. The other 5 hooks slammed into Carmen's arm, piercing the soft skin and grinding against the bones underneath. Carmen screamed and hit her head against the table. Then the levers went away and the hooks were being slowly pulled up. Carmen screamed as some hooks were stuck and pulled her skin, while others tore out taking chunks of flesh with them.

Then the Chief came over to her legs and blew fire on them. Carmen screamed as she was being burned, he stopped. Lying in a pool of pain and blood Carmen began to shudder and pass out. The last thing she heard the judge say was "It looks like this is case is going to have to go to a Grand Jury."


	7. Chapter 7 Grand Jury

Author Note: This is a long chapter. Hang in there. We are near the end.

Water went in and out of her mouth resulting a rude awakening. Carmen stood up so fast it made her dizzy and she staggered to steady herself. She bent over choking on water, and when she finally opened up her eyes she saw white.

"What the..?" she said taking the bag off her head. Her hair was soaked and it stunk like a sewer.

She looked around and saw that she was on a beach next to a lake. One half of her body was soaked in smelly water. Remembering what happened she immediately looked at her arms and legs they were fine. The only thing missing was her gloves. She looked down and saw two empty health drink bottles lying on the beach.

"I don't remember drinking those?" she said, and could make out two sets of footprints leading away from them. Just then her stomach gurgled and she couldn't stop herself from puking.

"Oh Shit" she said straightening herself "That didn't feel too good. Where am I?"

She took out the map and saw an X near Toluca Lake. "So that must be my location" There was a red arrow pointing towards a building named Silent Hill Historical Society. She checked her flashlight it still worked, and turned on her radio, no sound was heard. She bent down and grabbed her crowbar and felt for her gun it was still there.

"Well, I'm getting closer to knowing the truth" she said brushing herself off and began to walk towards the building.

The fog still left the same amount of visibility. The only sound was her high heels hitting the pavement. She could make out a big shadow sitting on the side of the road, as she got closer she saw a sign that read Silent Hill Historical Society. This made her feel nervous, for she remembered what happens every time she's in a building. She approached the front door, paused and looked around. Nothing could be seen or heard, just a quiet fog. Putting her hand on the door handle it creaked open from being near the water for so long.

Inside was dark and smelled musty. She remembered where the old parchments were, but not what was written on them. She walked over to their location and saw a small plague; it read "Once stolen by the late Carmen Sandiego"

"late Carmen Sandiego? That's impossible I'm not dead" she said looking through the glass to see what was written on them, but the glass had been scratched on all sides. She could barely make out the reflection of something behind the glass. She leaned over and saw a shotgun and it had a box of shells taped to the barrel.

"How odd what is this doing there? Maybe to keep me from stealing them from beyond the grave" she said laughing to herself. Something told her to leave the smaller gun and crowbar and take the shotgun.

She looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, just dusty display cases with old artifacts from the local area. Making her way further back she noticed a door that was halfway open. She went in and saw a table, chair, a computer and a lopsided door. There was a note pinned on it. It read "You are getting closer to knowing the truth, but first you need to HAVE the right mental state before you can get A CLUE."

She noticed the capital letters and remembered the other note she picked up, also, had capital letters. Reaching in her inner pocket she took out the note she found in the cash register, and re-read it.

"YOU have come this far to know the truth. Why DON'T you come home? Mmmmm…You… don't… have ..a ….clue" she said pausing after each word. "Well tell me something I don't fucking know" she said out of frustration and tore up both notes.

After calming herself down she opened the door and walked in. There was a staircase that descended too far down for her to see its end. She walked down it for 20 minutes. Finally reaching the end she looked back up "That is a long staircase. I wonder why it's even here" and turning around she found her answer. The door read "Toluca Prison." She looked down and saw a small slender bottle with a Red-Cross sign on it. She picked it up it read "Ampoule, Caution: Use only in NEAR DEATH situations"

"I don't like how this is going, but the truth lies behind this door. And I want to get out of here" she said pulling the heavy door open with both hands.

There was a lit up platform with a hanging noose in the middle of the it, but it was too dark to see how far or close the walls where. She cautiously approached the platform and saw a note attached to the noose. It read "To know the truth a thief must wear the rope of justice". She noticed a lever on the side, but there was no one around to pull it. This gave her some sense of ease.

But then her mouth dropped at the thought of having to put on the noose. She approached it with pounding heart; it was so quiet that her heart sounded like a pounding drum inside her. Putting down her gun, she looked around as a precaution and saw no one. With shaky hands she put the noose around her hat and near her neck. Suddenly, it was pulled tight so that she was standing on her toes. The room became half-lit and there was Judge Holloway standing with the Silent Hill townspeople.

"Thank you all for coming to witness this historic event. The court hearing of Carmen Sandiego" Judge Holloway with her back turned to Carmen talking to the people.

Carmen stood on the platform with her hands around her neck trying to give herself some breathing room, but the rope was too tight. She could only manage to choke out breaths. Judge Holloway turned around and addressed Carmen.

"Carmen Sandiego you have been accused of murder. How do you plea?"

"No..Noo..Not Guuuilty" Carmen said choking out the words.

"You have murdered the people that you supposedly cared about and now it's the time for you to know the truth." Judge Holloway said frankly and stepped aside. The two creatures that were following and attacked Carmen stepped into the light.

"Do you recognize these two?"

"No..No I don't"

The Judge made tsking noise "What a shame. After all that you have been through. They are Zack and Ivy. You murdered them a year ago. You became obsessed with our towns past, our rituals and even lived here for awhile in the Blue Creek Apartments. You went back to ACME and befriended everyone, but that was a just a cover so you could buy their trust. And when you had them where you wanted them you brought them here for a summer vacation, I think that's what you called it."

"Wha..Wha..What? I .would never d..dd..do something .like that"

"But you did" Judge Holloway said and turns around to address the townspeople "Let the record show that Carmen Sandiego has denied committing such a horrible act and pretends she has no recollection of the events" turning back to Carmen "How do you plea?"

"NOT GUILTY" Carmen shouted, but paid for the effort as it put a terrible strain on her throat as the rope scratched roughly against her neck.

"Maybe telling you some more will jog your memory. You three had great fun and you and I became quite good friends. My daughter even had a crush on Zack. You asked me more about the rituals and I told you. I even explained that certain families must sacrifice our children in an orderly fashion, but you decided to take matters into your own hands. One day you told Zack and Ivy that you had to go out of town for a few days, which was true; but you didn't tell them where you went. "Judge Holloway's voice increased a few octaves "You snuck into ACME Headquarters and stuck a powerful magnet into the Chief's hard drive causing him to overload and explode. Your last words to him were "A sacrifice is only a small price to pay for eternal happiness ". His programming is still unretrievable to this day."

Just then the Chief came screeching in and flew towards Carmen with his fire tongue hanging out. He licked the side of her face with it. Carmen screamed in pain. When he was done he left a brown sore. The pain was excruciating as the heat began to boil her skin from the inside. Tears ran down her face.

"I..I..I don't doing that" Carmen sobbed.

The Judge turned to the people "Once again, let the record show that she still claims any wrongdoing" and turned back to Carmen. "Perhaps telling you about Zack and Ivy will bring it all back. When you returned you took Zack on a fishing trip. It was a rather windy day and there was overcast, but you assured Zack that that's the best time to go fishing. You and he were out on the water and when he was looking over the side of the boat at his reflection that's when you attacked him. Hitting him in the head, took of his life vest and duct taped his arms next to his body and put a plastic bag over his head sealing it tight around his neck and chest. You then threw him over board and watching him go down. Your last words were "A sacrifice is only a small price to pay for eternal happiness". You see in the parchments it talks about how the deepest part of the lake has been a sacred spot for our drowning sacrifices so you knew where to dispose of the body. It took us several months before we found him. Poor boy" and looked over at a disfigured Zack.

"NO..NO.."Carmen half screamed and sobbing at the same time. She tried to keep herself still but she couldn't touch the floor properly.

"Now on to Ivy. When you returned to the apartments without Zack, Ivy questioned you and you told her that he wanted to remain at the lake for a couple of hours. You know how determined he can be, especially when it came to catching his first fish" Judge Holloway said turning to the audience, some laughed, turning back to Carmen "You told her that you needed something from the basement and if she would be so kindly to go get it. And being the good child that she is, she obeyed, besides you all have grown so attached to each other, and they became like your own children. You followed her to the basement staying a few steps behind her and once you were both in you closed the door, locking it. She asked what you were doing, instead of giving her and explanation you lunged at her and knocked her out. She woke up strapped to a sort a torture table with 5 sharp fish hooks over both arms. You told her that "A sacrifice is only a small price to pay for eternal happiness". Once you were done you opened up the incinerator and slid her not-yet dead body in and watched it burn. Did I leave out anything out?"

Carmen had no words to express what she was feeling. Could she really have done all this? The pain in her face was enough to bring her back to reality.

"I..I..I caaan't believe…"

"Of course you can't believe it Carmen" the Judge interrupted. "It just seems to unreal right? Well, when it came to light what you did you had already developed a split personality. I have a few notes I have on you."Judge cleared her throat "_My theory is that she was insane before she committed the acts. The double life she led became too much for her and took a toll on her psyche. Being an adversary and a mother figure to Zack and Ivy didn't help with the moral/emotional dueling that went on inside her mind._

Here is a note from what happened when we locked you in our psychiatric ward. _We had to keep her heavily sedated as she kept shouting "A sacrifice is only a small price to pay for eternal happiness." Somehow she was able to resist the drugs and finally committed suicide by hanging herself with her bed sheets._ Now Carmen after hearing the testimony against you I am going to ask you one last time. How do you plea?"

" Guilty. I..I don't .remember do..doing these .horrible things" Carmen said sobbing as her mind raced to understand what was going on.

"Well then Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury. I leave it up to you. You have heard the testimony; you know what has been done. What is your sentence?"

Everyone shouted "Guiltiy" and just as the last syllable was said the ground began to shake and a loud scratching noise was heard.

"Oh my god, Its coming" Carmen thought.

Out of the darkness came a huge monster that had a metal triangle object for a head. It was breathing heavily and made its way towards the lever on the platform. Its body was that of a well-toned man but the blood stains that splattered over it told another tale. It was dragging a long sharp knife that was large enough to split a person or living creature in two with one blow.

"This is our Executioner" Judge Holloway said with a smile and nodded her head.

The creature grabbed a hold of the lever with is human-like hand and pulled it. The platform floor beneath Carmen opened up making her and the rope jerk down.


	8. Chapter 8 Success

Title: Success

Author Note: In keeping with the spirit of SH I have created two endings a good and bad ending. I know, I know that in most SH games there are four endings good, bad, dog and UFO; but seeing that this story is relatively short compared to SH standards I am only going to do bad and good.

I am using the Homecoming and Origins versions of getting to the nightmare world. The nightmare world is the alternate world of SH. Everything looks rustier or bloodier and the monsters are more dangerous.

Carmen fell through the platform opening. The fall felt like an eternity until she landed with thud that knocked her out for a few seconds. She woke up lying on her side on the dirty floor. She laid there shaking and thinking about what just happened.

"Did I really do all those things?"

Tears ran down the side of her, already tear stained, cheeks.

"Why am I here? Who sent me that letter? Will this nightmare ever end?" she said wiping her eyes with her bare hand.

After a few minutes she finally got up. Looking around she saw a full length oversized mirror in the middle of a black hallway. The walls looked like black velvet curtains with wind blowing behind them making black rolling waves. A spotlight shone on the mirror. She walked closer and saw her reflection. She saw the massive bruise the covered most of her neck. Her turtleneck prevented the rope from cutting into her most of her skin. Her eyes were red from crying and her right cheek was blistered from the burn. It was a dull pain now.

She walked around to look at the other side of the mirror, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The curtain went so far back that it was hard to see where it ended. Remembering her gun she walked back to where she had landed, and looked up to see how far she fell but couldn't find a trace of an entrance.

"It only felt like I fell at least 4 feet" she said picking up her flashlight to see if it still worked. It didn't. Her radio was smashed.

"How come it didn't go off when those creatures… I mean Ivy and Zack and when that pyramid head thing appeared?" she said turning it over. The back panel was split across and revealed corroded batteries.

"oh" she said in a weak voice, clearing her throat but it hurt when she did.

The ampoule and shotgun shells were still intact. She checked to gun to see if it was loaded, it was.

She looked around but couldn't see any hint of a way out. Then she noticed the mirror had a different type of scenery in it.

"What?" she said in her now regular voice, as she approached it, her reflection appeared different.

Her entire body looked like it had an overcast on it. She looked around to see what could be the cause but only saw the bright spotlight shining down on her. She stuck out her hand to touch the mirror. She rested her palm against the glass meeting her reflection. It was hot, as if she had just touched a stove top burner.

"Holy Shit! The glass must be hot as Hell!" she said blowing on her burnt hand. A siren went off and the black curtains and mirror began to rise. The top layer of the floor lifted into the air bit by bit, leaving a type of floor grate. She gripped the gun with both hands. Her burnt hand was sore but she didn't care. She was prepared for anything. Her heels sunk into the grate holes.

"I better take these off. I have a feeling I'm going to have to run" she said stepping out of her shoes.

Her bare feet touched the warm metal. She could see through the holes and it looked like a lava lake moving underneath her. Steam blasted through the ceiling vents and certain areas of the floor. The entire room looked like an oversize boiler room. There were huge heaters in the corners that made it very hot. Carmen looked around and saw three black curtains that hung on each of the three walls. In front of her about 30 feet up was a dark doorway that had a steep staircase covered in a red rug that followed it to the floor and spread out about 20 feet in diameter.

She then saw her shadow self coming down the stairs. Her hips swung a little bit more making her appear more sensual. She left footprints of fire that quickly vanished as the appeared. Carmen couldn't believe what she saw. There was a sweet smell of perform in the air, like spring flowers.

Carmen was trying to remember where she smelled that fragrance then it dawned on her "I smelled that back in the apartment and in the hospital. Could it be that she is responsible for bringing me here?"

"Hello Carmen, I am hoping you are enjoying yourself?" Dark Carmen asked.

"Not particularly" Carmen said frankly.

"That's a shame. I thought you'd like it here."

"Why would I like it here? Are you the one that sent me that letter?"

"Of course, I figured it was time for you knew the truth?"

"And what would that be? Who are you?"

Dark Carmen made a tsking noise, as she reached the floor. She paced back and forth over the red carpet with her hands behind her back.

"With an IQ of 200 I would have thought that you'd figured it out by now."

Carmen just stared at her.

"When you left ACME for a life of crime that is when you first created me, your alter ego. I'm the one who commits your crimes. I'm the one who has made VILE into the greatest crime organization in history. I AM CARMEN SANDIEGO! BUT YOU, you're the one who always saves those stupid smart ass detectives every time they get into trouble. Don't you get it? YOU'RE DEAD! You hung yourself because you're WEAK. You couldn't' handle the power of the parchments. They provided the path to eternal glory but didn't want to follow the guidelines so you let me take over to do the dirty work. You have to be in the right mental state Carmen. YOU have to do commit the acts not me. NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

When Dark Carmen said this the remaining three black curtains were lifted revealing Zack, Ivy and the Chief as their normal selves. They were strapped down to tables that hung from the ceiling in a crucifixion pose.

"Can you save them Carmen? I have given you a chance to get out but you were too blind to see the answer staring you right in the face."

"I will save them because I care about them not because I only want to save myself." Carmen said turning her head to look at them with tears forming in her eyes.

"There you go with that bleeding heart bullshit."

"IT'S NOT BULLSHIT!"

"YES IT IS! Did you know they make fun of you? All the detectives do. You have this impression set in your mind that they respect and care for you, but they don't. Tell me Carmen why is it that Ivy has a secret hatred for you? Remember when she was hanging on the side of the tower the one you stole from the Neuschwanstien, why is it that she wouldn't grab your hand the first time? You had to beg her to grab it. Why would she risk death over touching you? And Zack, he just follows his big sister because he isn't old enough to wipe is own ass. EVERYONE at ACME thinks you're a joke!"

She looked that the three of them and then back at Dark Carmen. "THAT'S A FUCKING LIE!" she shouted her whole body trembling with rage.

"That's the truth...(Dark Carmen smiled) and now you get to reap the fruits of your eternal happiness." and tipped her hat.

She lifted up in the air and hovered in a spot for a few seconds. Carmen got in a gun stance; she was ready to pull the trigger.

"Carmen Sandiego, welcome to a new world, or shall I say Where in HELL is Carmen Sandiego?"

Dark Carmen threw her hat at Carmen, who quickly turned her body to the side. The hat whizzed past her grinding against the floor throwing up sparks. It boomeranged back. Carmen couldn't believe how close she was to getting sliced in half.

Carmen aimed her gun and pulled the trigger. Dark Carmen moved to the side. "Be mindful of what is around you." she taunted as she quickly flew around the room.

"That's right. I might hit them." Carmen thought, reloading the gun.

Carmen ran around the room following her shadow self trying to find some type of patter in her movements that would keep her friends out of harms way. She saw an opening when Dark Carmen flew to the middle and hovered ahead.

"What's wrong Carmen can't come to terms to do yourself in?" the hat came whizzing down.

Carmen rolled out of the way and braced herself on one knee and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked back and two bullets flew out and hitting Dark Carmen in the chest. She screamed out of pain. Blood oozed from the bullet wounds like slow red slime. Carmen quickly reloaded the gun.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" she yelled and flew to another location.

Carmen knew that if she could pinpoint when the hat was going to be thrown that was her time to strike. Dark Carmen continued to fly around the room. The hat was coming off. This time Carmen was prepared and pulled the trigger before it left Dark Carmen's hand. More blood came out staining the already red trench coat. Carmen quickly loaded the gun.

"FUCK YOU!" she shouted. This time she didn't fly away instead opened up her trench coat to launch 20 cleavers at Carmen. She tried to dodge the oncoming silver wall but got hit by three of them. Carmen yelled as one was stuck deep into her left arm, in her side and left leg. She pulled out the knives as each one fell to the floor marked with bloody fingerprints. Blood soaked the fabric around the gashes that began to drip her life away. Her leg was throbbing with intense pain that she felt like it couldn't hold her weight for much long.

Dark Carmen hovered above, "Think you can beat me BITCH? I MADE YOU INTO THE WORLD FAMOUS CRIMINAL."

With what little energy Carmen had left she aimed with one hand and pulled the trigger. Two bullets flew and hit Dark Carmen in the forehead jerking her head back. Carmen put her gun down and took out the ampoule from her inner coat pocket and with one hand she popped off the cap and drank it. It had a much stronger taste than the health drinks, but its effect was different. It was worse. Her whole body quivered from the rush of antibodies and fell on the floor in convulsions, as Dark Carmen began to come back alive.

Carmen was healed just in time to see Dark Carmen take off her hat for a finishing blow. Carmen rolled out of the way the razor brim that cut her coat belt tails. She stood up, wiped the foam from around her mouth and loaded her gun. She aimed for the throat and the bullets flew in giving Dark Carmen a tracheotomy. She fell to the ground but wasn't dead. Then two cables came out from the sides of the walls and wrapped themselves around her arms pulling her up. She hung there in a crucifixion pose with her head hanging down as her hair was soaked with blood.

The Executioner came out of the door and walked down the steps that made her grand entrance, as his huge knife cut the carpet with each step. When he got closer he raised is knife and thrust it into Dark Carmen's back as the blade appeared in the front. She threw her head back and Carmen could see the bullet holes in her throat. Her turtle neck was no longer yellow but dark red. The Executioner then pulled his knife up slicing Dark Carmen in two. He then turned around and walked away.

Carmen began to sob uncontrollably at what she just witnessed. She let go of the gun and fell on her knees. The tables began to descend to release their captives. Carmen had saved the people she cared about and herself.

_Carmen was driving along a road named Nathan Avenue. It passed through a small quaint town called Silent Hill. _

"_I wonder if there is anything worth stealing from here?" she thought, but decided that she didn't want to disturb this simple way of life. A couple of locals were standing outside of Silent Hill Historical Society and waved to her as she passed. She waved back._

Thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 9 Failure

Title: Failure

Author Note: In keeping with the spirit of SH I have created two endings a good and bad ending. I know, I know that in most SH games there are four endings good, bad, dog and UFO; but seeing that this story is relatively short compared to SH standards I am only going to do bad and good.

I am using the Homecoming and Origins versions of getting to the nightmare world. The nightmare world is the alternate world of SH. Everything looks rustier or bloodier and the monsters are more dangerous.

Carmen fell through the platform opening. The fall felt like an eternity until she landed with thud that knocked her out for a few seconds. She woke up lying on her side on the dirty floor. She laid there shaking and thinking about what just happened.

"Did I really do all those things?"

Tears ran down the side of her, already tear stained, cheeks.

"Why am I here? Who sent me that letter? Will this nightmare ever end?" she said wiping her eyes with her bare hand.

After a few minutes she finally got up. Looking around she saw a full length oversized mirror in the middle of a black hallway. The walls looked like black velvet curtains with wind blowing behind them making black rolling waves. A spotlight shone on the mirror. She walked closer and saw her reflection. She saw the massive bruise the covered most of her neck. Her turtleneck prevented the rope from cutting into her most of her skin. Her eyes were red from crying and her right cheek was blistered from the burn. It was a dull pain now.

She walked around to look at the other side of the mirror, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The curtain went so far back that it was hard to see where it ended. Remembering her gun she walked back to where she had landed, and looked up to see how far she fell but couldn't find a trace of an entrance.

"It only felt like I fell at least 4 feet" she said picking up her flashlight to see if it still worked. It didn't. Her radio was smashed.

"How come it didn't go off when those creatures… I mean Ivy and Zack and when that pyramid head thing appeared?" she said turning it over. The back panel was split across and revealed corroded batteries.

"oh" she said in a weak voice, clearing her throat but it hurt when she did.

The ampoule and shotgun shells were still intact. She checked to gun to see if it was loaded, it was.

She looked around but couldn't see any hint of a way out. Then she noticed the mirror had a different type of scenery in it.

"What?" she said in her now regular voice, as she approached it, her reflection appeared different.

Her entire body looked like it had an overcast on it. She looked around to see what could be the cause but only saw the bright spotlight shining down on her. She stuck out her hand to touch the mirror. She rested her palm against the glass meeting her reflection. It was hot, as if she had just touched a stove top burner.

"Holy Shit! The glass must be hot as Hell!" she said blowing on her burnt hand. A siren went off and the black curtains and mirror began to rise. The top layer of the floor lifted into the air bit by bit, leaving a type of floor grate. She gripped the gun with both hands. Her burnt hand was sore but she didn't care. She was prepared for anything. Her heels sunk into the grate holes.

"I better take these off. I have a feeling I'm going to have to run" she said stepping out of her shoes.

Her bare feet touched the warm metal. She could see through the holes and it looked like a lava lake moving underneath her. Steam blasted through the ceiling vents and certain areas of the floor. The entire room looked like an oversize boiler room. There were huge heaters in the corners that made it very hot. Carmen looked around and saw three black curtains that hung on each of the three walls. In front of her about 30 feet up was a dark doorway that had a steep staircase covered in a red rug that followed it to the floor and spread out about 20 feet in diameter.

She then saw her shadow self coming down the stairs. Her hips swung a little bit more making her appear more sensual. She left footprints of fire that quickly vanished as the appeared. Carmen couldn't believe what she saw. There was a sweet smell of perform in the air, like spring flowers.

Carmen was trying to remember where she smelled that fragrance then it dawned on her "I smelled that back in the apartment and in the hospital. Could it be that she is responsible for bringing me here?"

"Hello Carmen, I am hoping you are enjoying yourself?" Dark Carmen asked.

"Not particularly" Carmen said frankly.

"That's a shame. I thought you'd like it here."

"Why would I like it here? Are you the one that sent me that letter?"

"Of course, I figured it was time for you knew the truth?"

"And what would that be? Who are you?"

Dark Carmen made a tsking noise, as she reached the floor. She paced back and forth over the red carpet with her hands behind her back.

"With an IQ of 200 I would have thought that you'd figured it out by now."

Carmen just stared at her.

"When you left ACME for a life of crime that is when you first created me, your alter ego. I'm the one who commits your crimes. I'm the one who has made VILE into the greatest crime organization in history. I AM CARMEN SANDIEGO! BUT YOU, you're the one who always saves those stupid smart ass detectives every time they get into trouble. Don't you get it? YOU'RE DEAD! You hung yourself because you're WEAK. You couldn't' handle the power of the parchments. They provided the path to eternal glory but didn't want to follow the guidelines so you let me take over to do the dirty work. You have to be in the right mental state Carmen. YOU have to do commit the acts not me. NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

When Dark Carmen said this the remaining three black curtains were lifted revealing Zack, Ivy and the Chief as their normal selves. They were strapped down to tables that hung from the ceiling in a crucifixion pose.

"Can you save them Carmen? I have given you a chance to get out but you were too blind to see the answer staring you right in the face."

"I will save them because I care about them not because I only want to save myself." Carmen said turning her head to look at them with tears forming in her eyes.

"There you go with that bleeding heart bullshit."

"IT'S NOT BULLSHIT!"

"YES IT IS! Did you know they make fun of you? All the detectives do. You have this impression set in your mind that they respect and care for you, but they don't. Tell me Carmen why is it that Ivy has a secret hatred for you? Remember when she was hanging on the side of the tower the one you stole from the Neuschwanstien, why is it that she wouldn't grab your hand the first time? You had to beg her to grab it. Why would she risk death over touching you? And Zack, he just follows his big sister because he isn't old enough to wipe is own ass. EVERYONE at ACME thinks you're a joke!"

She looked that the three of them and then back at Dark Carmen. "THAT'S A FUCKING LIE!" she shouted her whole body trembling with rage.

"That's the truth...(Dark Carmen smiled) and now you get to reap the fruits of your eternal happiness." and tipped her hat.

She lifted up in the air and hovered in a spot for a few seconds. Carmen got in a gun stance; she was ready to pull the trigger.

"Carmen Sandiego, welcome to a new world, or shall I say Where in HELL is Carmen Sandiego?"

Dark Carmen threw her hat at Carmen, who quickly turned her body to the side. The hat whizzed past her grinding against the floor throwing up sparks. It boomeranged back. Carmen couldn't believe how close she was to getting sliced in half.

Carmen aimed her gun and pulled the trigger. Dark Carmen moved to the side. "Be mindful of what is around you." she taunted as she quickly flew around the room.

"That's right. I might hit them." Carmen thought, reloading the gun.

Carmen ran around the room following her shadow self trying to find some type of patter in her movements that would keep her friends out of harms way. She saw an opening when Dark Carmen flew to the middle and hovered ahead.

"What's wrong Carmen can't come to terms to do yourself in?" the hat came whizzing down.

Carmen rolled out of the way and braced herself on one knee and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked back and two bullets flew out and hitting Dark Carmen in the chest. She screamed out of pain. Blood oozed from the bullet wounds like slow red slime. Carmen quickly reloaded the gun.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" she said and flew to another location.

Carmen knew that if she could pinpoint when the hat was going to be thrown that was her time to strike. Dark Carmen continued to fly around the room. The hat was coming off. This time Carmen was prepared and pulled the trigger before it left Dark Carmen's hand. More blood came out staining the already red trench coat. Carmen quickly loaded the gun.

"FUCK YOU!" she shouted. This time she didn't fly away instead opened up her trench coat to launch 20 cleavers at Carmen. She tried to dodge the oncoming silver wall but got hit by three of them. Carmen yelled as one was stuck deep into her left arm, in her side and left leg. She pulled out the knives as each one fell to the floor marked with bloody fingerprints. Blood soaked the fabric around the gashes that began to drip her life away. Her leg was throbbing with intense pain that she felt like it couldn't hold her weight for much longer.

Dark Carmen hovered above, "Think you can beat me BITCH? I MADE YOU INTO THE WORLD FAMOUS CRIMINAL."

With what little energy Carmen had she aimed the gun with one hand and pulled the trigger. Two bullets flew towards Dark Carmen, but she dodged them. Carmen put her gun down and took out the ampoule from her inner coat pocket and with one hand and popped off the cap. Dark Carmen seized this moment took off her hat and launched it. It spun itself into Carmen's stomach but didn't cut all the way through. Carmen fell to the floor screaming with tears running down her face. She began to cough up blood. Dark Carmen grabbed her hat and licked the blood off the razor brim.

Just then two cables came out from the sides of the walls and wrapped themselves around Carmen's arms pulling her up. Her near lifeless bloody body hung in a crucifixion pose. Her head was down and her hair was soaked with blood that it looked like it was wet.

The Executioner came out of the door and walked down the steps that made Dark Carmen's grand entrance, as his huge knife slid down behind him. When he got closer he raised his knife and thrust it into Carmen's stomach as the blade tip went through her back. She threw her head back at the sudden impact. The Executioner then pulled his knife up slicing Carmen in two. He then turned around and walked away.

The last thing Carmen saw was Dark Carmen hovering overhead laughing. Her mouth covered with blood.

_Thick fog blanketed the entire town leaving visibility an almost impossibility. A red car came down the street and pulled into a gas station parking lot. A woman stepped out. She was dressed in all red from her hat to her high heels. The only variation of bold color was her black gloves and thick hair that hung down her back. _

Thank you for reading!


End file.
